EVERETT, Wash. - A 10-year-old Everett-area boy is at Children's Hospital after being buried in a sandbox by his playmates.

Cody Porter was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center.

Larger screen

Cody Porter's family is bracing for the worst.

His half-brother, Joshua Quantrille, 30, said Cody was playing with his own three sons and several other children Saturday in the back yard of a home belonging to a family friend.

There is a sandbox in the back yard, and Quantrille says his children told him Cody came up with the idea that they should bury him, head first, in the sand.

"They watch a cartoon where they were like sand masters or something and they can manipulate sand or something like that. They came up with the idea that if he were to do this then he would be able to be one of them," he said.

Quantrille said Cody was buried roughly from his head to his chest. At some point, he began thrashing around, but the children apparently thought he was playing.

Eventually they figured out that something was wrong. They pulled Cody out and called the adults inside the home, who administered CPR until an aid car arrived.

Quantrille said it doesn't look good for Cody.

"There's always a possibility ... God works miracles, so you know he could come through," he said.

Sheriff's deputies interviewed the five children who were in the sandbox with Cody. None of them were detained or taken into custody.